“To be shockingly original with your first novel, you don’t have to discover a new technique: Simply write about people as they are and not as the predominantly liberal and humanist literary establishment believes that they ought to be.”

“There isn't, unfortunately, any way of discovering whether you can write a publishable novel except by writing it.”

“If the original of any of your characters would win a libel case against you, you have failed to create a real character.”

“Writing's not always a pleasure to me, but if I'm not writing every other pleasure loses its savour.”

“She was trying to write a novel, it was so slow, you had to destroy so much and start again; so hard to discover whether one was really a writer or just a victim of a literary home environment.”

“Listen closely. There’s a remote possibility that you might learn something: First, I don’t give a damn if my work is commercial or not…I’m the writer. If what I write is good, then people will read it. That’s why literature exists. An author puts his heart and guts on the page. For your information, a good novel can change the world. Keep that in mind before you attempt to sit down at a typewriter. Never waste time on something you don’t believe in yourself.”

“You can’t write novels about people who are timid, risk-averse and passive. Or you can, but they’re called literary novels.”